Tropical storm Isaias blew through the Vineyard late Tuesday, bringing gusty winds choppy seas and some ferry cancellations. By early evening the storm was on a fast track to northern New England.
Tropical storm Isaias blew through the Vineyard late Tuesday, bringing gusty winds choppy seas and some ferry cancellations. By early evening the storm was on a fast track to northern New England.
The Steamship Authority began cancelling some service late Tuesday afternoon. All service was running out of Vineyard Haven. Weather conditions were overcast and warm with thick humidity, gusty winds and occasional bands of rain.
Shipyards were hauling or moving boats all day, and all transportation services put out travel advisories for the Island.
A tornado warning was issued for all of southern New England, including the Cape and Islands, by the National Weather Service and later lifted.
Isaias made landfall in the southeastern United States as a category one hurricane and was downgraded to a tropical storm as it began tracking an inland route north.
Ocean swells, a small amount of rainfall and 40 to 60 mph wind gusts out of the south-southwest were all predicted, as the eastern edge of the storm brushed past the Vineyard.
In Menemsha late in the day, a rainbow appeared for about 30 minutes.
The storm was expected to quickly track through southeastern New York and western New England Tuesday evening before heading into northern New England.
Earlier in the day Phil Hale, owner of the Martha’s Vineyard Shipyard said they had instituted a full hurricane plan as soon as the storm reached the eastern shores of Florida.
“We are hauling a few boats, but more importantly we have an awful lot of boats in exposed locations along the north shore and Menemsha and we are moving those boats to more secure areas,” Mr. Hale said. “I think we’re going to get a glancing blow, but it’s going to blow hard tomorrow night.”
Mr. Hale said the preparations were mainly precautionary.
“It is an awful lot easier to stop [preparations] than to try to start it late,” he said.
Comments
When writing about storms
Jeremiah Gill Vineyard HavenWhen writing about storms expected wind direction is extremely important to marine interests. My Accuweather Pro site is forcasting the winds to be from the SW, backing to the S with the strongest gusts before midnight, then continuing to back to the SSE and easing through the morning.
Your Accuweather info was
645guy ChilmarkYour Accuweather info was inaccurate. Strongest gusts were around 5 pm and the wind was consistently from the SW to SSW. It never swung into the SSE.
It diminished significantly by midnight. The local marine forecast from the NWS was accurate.
Data here:
https://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=buzm3
Just for the record, the peak
MelJust for the record, the peak wind speeds at the Nantucket Sound buoy (https://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=44020) were around 6pm with 31 knots steady, gusting to about 41 knots from the south. The wind started out from the SE and swung to the S and then to the SW, which makes sense based on the track of the eye of the storm. Face into the wind and the eye of the storm will be to your right. Since the storm passed west of us over New York State, the wind was forecast to shift in a clockwise direction, which it did. If the eye had passed to our east, the wind would have shifted in a counterclockwise direction.
You are comparing a forecast
Jeremiah Gill Vineyard HavenYou are comparing a forecast for Vineyard Haven to an after action report from Buzzards Bay. The main thing for Vineyard Haven harbor was that the wind would not swing to the NE, the direction that drove the Witch of Endor into the dinghy dock at the ferry terminal a couple years ago. Check bouys in the correct water body if you really care, they may show SSE winds. It is over, so I personally am not interested.
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